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CALLAN’S LEGACY CONTINUES ...
CedarvilleMen’s Basketball Head Coach Pat
Estepp ’97 had moved away from basketball,
but Don Callan gave him a chance to step back
on the court.
“I transferred to Cedarville from the
University of Kentucky, largely due to Don
Callan staying in touch with my dad and
offering me a walk-on spot with the JV team,”
he noted.
Callan touched Estepp’s life again when he
was deciding his major. “I was thinking about
athletic training,” he recalled. “He said, ‘I always
thought you would be a coach.’ God used that
to lead me to coaching here.”
Estepp’s third interaction with Callan came
on a five-week missions trip to the Philippines.
“I really got to see his heart for missions and
people who need the Lord,” he said.
“As head coach of a program that Don
Callan essentially built, I try to live up to the
standard he set,” Estepp added. “This program
should represent Cedarville University and,
more importantly, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I hope that what we do is making a lasting
impact in the lives of our players and the people
we cross paths with.
“We have former players who are
missionaries, pastors, coaches, engineers,
and teachers. You hope as their former coach
they learned something to impact their world
for Christ.”
“During my interview process, he wanted to
make sure I was on the same page about using
sports as ministry — that’s who Don Callan
is,” commented Teresa (Cooper) Clark ’75,
Cedarville’s volleyball coach from 1996–2005.
Clark, anAssociate Professor of Kinesiology,
is also Cedarville’s Title 9 Coordinator and the
NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative. “I serve
as a mentor to athletes and a mediator between
athletes and faculty,” she explained.
Clark had Callan as a professor, and he was
the one responsible for hiring her as a coach.
“He encouraged all of us as head coaches to be
involved with teams through MIS,” she said.
“He wanted us to do ministry not just here,
but abroad. I ended up taking seven MIS trips
with my volleyball teams. He influenced me to
influence them to use sports to lead others to
Christ.”
Three of Clark’s former volleyball players are
head coaches — one at Lancaster Bible College
in Pennsylvania and two at high schools.
Last summer, Kelsey (Jones) Carter ’06 took
some of her players from Cedar Cliff Local
Schools on a trip to Costa Rica.
“Coach changed my mindset that missions
should be a goal for my coaching, and I’m
so glad. And now the next generation is
influencing their athletes to do the same, and
that’s exciting,” Clark said.
“The greatest thing that happened in
my spiritual walk was the day I was hired at
Cedarville,” noted Women’s Basketball Head
Coach Kirk Martin ’76.
“When the people who hire you convey
nothing but confidence, it allows you to move
forward believing in what you’re doing,” Martin
said. “(Coach Callan’s wife) Nedra and he have
been phenomenal encouragers.”
Callan strongly urged Martin to take his
teams overseas through the former MIS. “I’d
never been on a missions trip inmy life,”Martin
said. “Through his encouragement, I took my
team on one every other year for eight years.
“When I was hired here, the godly
leadership was amazing,” he added. “It wasn’t
about basketball but using basketball for
Christ.”
Among those influenced by Martin, who
are now influencing others, are Cedarville
assistant coaches Kari (Flunker) Hoffman ’05
and Stacie Travis ’07. “I have former players
coaching middle school, high school, and at
the collegiate level,” Martin said. “I have one
playing professional basketball in Australia,
Brittany Smart ’07. Raegan Ryan ’15 went on an
Athletes in Action basketball trip to Israel this
summer.”
“This is what Don would have hoped
for us and what I hope my legacy will be,”
Martin noted.
PATRICK ESTEPP
’97
TERESA CLARK
’75
KIRK MARTIN
’76
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Cedarville Magazine